The European Union has agreed to ban imports of Syrian oil worth £10 million a
day in a move that will significantly step up economic pressure on Bashar
Assad and his regime.

The EU has agreed sanctions targeting Syrian oil exports, depriving the regime of a vital source of revenue as European countries buy 95 per cent of Syria’s crude oil, amounting to 148,000 barrels a day.

“The sanctions have been agreed,” an EU official said. “They ban the import of Syrian oil and petroleum products to the EU. Four more people and three entities are also included.”

EU foreign ministers met in Poland yesterday to discuss a further push for a United Nations Security Council resolution setting out wider international sanctions against President Assad’s regime and discussed plans to develop contacts with the Syrian opposition.

France is pushing for the EU to support and build closer links with Syrian dissidents, who in Istanbul last month established a “national council” to coordinate a campaign to topple Assad.

“We will develop our contacts with the opposition. We will not let up on our efforts to bring an end to the repression and to secure a democratic dialogue,” Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the Spanish Prime Minister, signalled the harder EU line on Syria by highlighting the success of UN-backed military action to overthrow the Gaddafi regime in Libya.

“This example should extend to other countries like Syria where people are fighting for freedom and to whom the international community should give its wholehearted backing,” he said.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has added her voice to growing calls for UN Security Council sanctions against Assad, measures currently blocked by Russia and China.

“The violence must stop and he needs to step aside,” she said.

Syrian opposition groups yesterday urged that protests take place after the Friday Muslim prayers - a weekly rallying point for demonstrations.

The rallies will be held under the slogan of “death rather than humiliation,” said the Facebook page Syrian Revolution 2011. “We are ready to die in the millions as martyrs.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people - including an 11-year child - were killed and several more were wounded Thursday when security forces opened fire on protesters in the central Syrian region of Homs.